A new challenger has entered the race for Governor as a Democrat.
Multiple reports have indicated that Hinds County District Attorney Robert Shuler Smith has filed to run for Governor after serving in his current position since 2008.
Smith, Attorney General Jim Hood and Velesha Williams will face off in an August primary election to attempt to earn the party’s nomination for the general election in November.
Smith and Hood are familiar with one another as Hood’s office has unsuccessfully attempted to prosecute Smith on three separate charges including robbery, stalking and hindering prosecution in recent years.
The hindering prosecution charges led to two separate trials, one that ended with a mistrial in 2016 and another that ended with Smith being acquitted on the charges in 2017.
The robbery and stalking charges were filed in 2017 after Smith’s ex-girlfriend claimed that he threatened her with a gun, but he was found not guilty by a jury in Rankin County.
On the other side of the race for Governor, Lt. Governor Tate Reeves, State Rep. Robert Foster and former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Bill Waller Jr. are seeking the Republican nomination.
